Redhawk Caldera went to the moped store

as you recall, the newest batch of blackthorns were growing quite quickly, perhaps faster than their poor parents had anticipated. tegan, however, had still yet to grow into his big head, and it seemed that with every day that passed it actually filled more and more with air. funny how that works. 

at least, however, he'd begun to grow into those fat feet of his, and those sharp little teeth (which had been used to gnaw on a whole pack of wolves at least four times through) had fallen out and he'd begun to get a nicer, more impressive set of chompers. he used that tooth-filled mouth for talking less than his siblings did, and he still found (clover particularly) their loud outbursts extremely obnoxious-- though, the hypocrite-- he seemed to forget all the outbursts he'd had himself. tegan was growing into quite the little asshole, truthfully.

all that aside, today, tegan was fuckin' lit. he'd been practicing his sub-par hunting skills today, and had accidentally fallen over those goofy paws of his. he'd let whatever rabbit he was chasing get away, but his shoulder had found a particularly rowdy branch and had torn straight through his pretty fur!! though he was kind of mad that he'd done that (at first), tegan realized that no one else had seen him, and was fairly certain he could play it off in a much cooler way. AND, on top of that, the blackthorn boy had decided that fighting was real cool, and therefore so were cuts and bruises and scars. so, thinking up a sneaky little story, tegan padded off to find someone gullible enough to believe his fib, tail in the air.

Towhee sat atop a ridge near the caldera's summit, glaring speculatively toward the east, where she could just make out the treetops of their enemy's forested base. She sat there a while, pondering, then turned and began striding toward the rendezvous site. As she walked, she tipped her head skyward and combed the heavens for any sign of X. She quickly located him, taking flight from a nearby tree and winging overhead like her shadow. Towhee smiled up at him, then dropped her eyes to a more earthward plane.

Before she reached her destination, she spotted Tegan striding across the territory. "Hey!" she shouted to get his attention, turning slightly to approach him. -What're you up to?- Towhee queried in ptero, grinning and reaching out a foreleg to give his nearer shoulder a light sisterly punch.

mama had told tegan that towhee was deaf-- which meant she couldn't hear. she'd also told him that that was why her voice sounded kinda funny. towhee's barks were a different kind of annoying than clover's were, but tegan disliked the noise all the same. it wasn't always that bad, especially when she was quieter, but he couldn't mistake that shout with anyone else. he winced and turned to find her-- so she'd stop shouting-- apparently it would been towhee who would be the victim of his story. 

whoops. towhee was for sure not the most gullible wolf he could think of. truthfully, he was hoping for lagan or clover or maybe even fiadh. but he'd already had this story all planned out, and if he waited any longer he'd be too bored with the story to share it, so he'd have to make due. but, voice aside, he rather liked talking to towhee-- espeically in ptero. 

"yooo towhee!!" he exclaimed to her, accepting the sisterly touch and giving her his own lil nudge with his nose. -you won't believe what happened, it was totally wicked!- he signed quickly to her. he then flashed his other shoulder her way, tail wagging wildly behind him. it wasn't that impressive, though tegan thought it was. he puffed out his chest, gave her a quick side eye, and said, -ever heard of a... yamalam??- no such thing. whatever sign tegan made up was exactly that-- made up.

He eagerly signed at her and Towhee didn't bother fighting the grin that overtook her face as she noticed the ease with which he used ptero. It seemed to come as naturally to him as it did her own litter mates, the only other wolves in the pack to be raised with it. Her orange eyes glowed brightly as she watched his every movement, brows quirking with open interest.

-No, I haven't,- she replied, curious about the strange word he'd spelled out. -But then, I've never heard anything.- Towhee blinked and waited a beat before signing, -Because I'm deaf. Get it?- She snickered at herself, then sobered and added, -Seriously though, what on earth are you talking about, Tegan?- and cocked her head to show him that he had her full attention.

tegan snorted at towhee's comment, cause it was pretty funny-- but if he was gonna make this believable he couldn't be so jumpy with his emotions. this was some serious shit he was trying to tell her!! 

-now is not the time for jokes!- he said sternly, though his lips were still upturned into a smirk. "yamalam," tegan repeated the word out loud, so towhee could see his mouth move and maybe actually make sense of the nonesense word... or maybe it still wouldn't make sense, whatever, tegan didn't have time to worry about that. -it's this creature, it's like half-rabbit-half-bird, walks around and makes this ding-dong sound, super rare!- he then began his vague description. he'd yet to go over in his mind how he would've heard about this before towhee had-- as she had quite a bit more time alive than he had-- but that was a problem for later. 

-you wouldn't believe it,- he added with a convincing roll of his shoulders, -but i've just gotten into a tussle with one-- chased it clear out of the territory!-

"Yam-a-lam," Towhee tested it out after watching Tegan's lips form the syllables, her own rather over-enunciated. What the f—? she thought, not entirely certain whether her kid brother was being serious or pulling her leg. But as he went on to describe it, she realized he was telling her a tall tale.

The mention of a bird made her glance upward, reassured by the sight of X coasting in lazy circles overhead. Her eyes almost immediately dropped back to Tegan, so she wouldn't miss anything he was saying. Her mouth opened into a silent wolfish laugh when the pup mentioned chasing this yamalam from the territory.

-Cool story, bro,- she gesticulated playfully. -So what the hell is a ding-dong sound?- Towhee couldn't help but wonder. There was no way of explaining it to her, a fact of which she was well aware, but she wondered if Tegan would try and what he might come up with if he did.

he nodded as towhee tested out the name. it wasn't like, 100% right, but tegan didn't have time to coach her through it-- especially since he'd probably forget he even told this story yesterday.

but, just as he'd feared, towhee was not as gullible as perhaps... anyone else he could've run into. his face scrunched up into a scowl-- how dare she mock him! -ding-dong,- he repeated with a tip of his chin upwards and a gentle huff. it was like she didn't even see the very obviously not-from-a-rock-or-branch cut on his shoulder! "ding-dong," he repeated, this time out loud, though truthfully none of this would be any help-- she literally couldn't hear anything even if it screamed in her damn ear. his lips tightened and his brow raised as he looked away dramatically.

-bet you've never seen one.-

He didn't make much of an effort to describe the sound, simply repeating the words, first in ptero, then verbally. Towhee mentally shrugged and then cocked her head when Tegan pretended to be affronted. This time, she did fight the smile, trying to keep her lips in a tight line to humor her younger sibling.

-You're absolutely right, I haven't,- she said. She paused, then a cool idea struck her. -Hey, it kind of sounds like you'd make a good mercenary, if you're chasing threats out of the territory. Would you want to join me on a patrol sometime? You could show me what to do if we come across any more yamalams.-

man he really wished he would've come across clover-- clover was dumb enough to believe his story. and as much as he loved his dumb sister, he sure would've liked to pull this one over her. oh well, he supposed it wasn't a bad thing to be so aware of stuff. good for towhee... or whatever.

her next comment earned a quick side-eye from tegan, who flicked his tail once curiously as he tried to decipher if she was being serious. deciding he didn't care if she was and opting to take this as a win, tegan let out another quick hmpf and nodded matter-o-factly. that's right, she had not seen one-- and he had. then she kind of lost him-- started talking mad responsibility or something of the other. he made a weird face as she started talking about patrols, remembering it as that thing that his parents called 'contribution' and 'pulling your weight.' tegan did plenty for the pack, he offered his stunning good looks, for one-- he wasn't sure he really should have to patrol.

ugh, but towhee was talking about the yamalams again and tegan couldn't let her know he'd made the whole thing up, so he pursed his lips and shrugged. -well i guess i'd have to, since you probably wouldn't know how to fight one properly,- he said with a soft sigh, adding quickly, -but i really wouldn't count on ever seeing one, i'm telling you towhee they're super rare.-

Her eyes crinkled in a way they only ever did around her dearest loved ones, the usually stoic planes of her face softening. -I believe you,- she signed, even though Towhee knew it was all just a figment of her little brother's imagination. As a chronicler, she could appreciate the story, even if her own interests lay more in facts than fiction.

-Hey, I can't help but notice how good you're doing with ptero. You might be one of the most fluent in the pack,- she said suddenly, speaking the truth. It made sense that the four youngest Blackthorns would be particularly adept—it was in part due to Towhee herself exposing them to it early and often—but the yearling certainly wouldn't take it for granted. -Did you know it's totally made-up? Raven and I came up with it when I was little, so that I could communicate, and it's grown from there. It didn't exist at all before I came along and now it's a complete language. How cool is that?-

he gave another affirmative nod and sniff, though he was bothered he'd agreed to patrol. oh well.

tegan also didn't care for some history lesson, so he kind of zoned out for a second. he did however, appreciate the bit of praise that was mixed in there. truthfully, it probably wasn't all that impressive-- he'd grown up with it, after all, it was technically no different than merely learning to speak-- and no one seemed to think that that was exciting. 

-pretty cool, i'd say- tegan agreed anyway, ears pricking with some thought. then, as an afterthought, the pup stole a look at towhee and asked curiously, -am i better than clover?- 

He agreed, though Towhee sensed that she was boring him a little bit. She smiled wryly at him, then pursed her lips at his question. She wondered if Tegan was referring to ptero specifically or asking if he was better in general. She huffed a laugh, then though to clarify.

-At signing? Or everything?- she queried playfully.

tegan grinned at the question, towhee kwtfwgo. -everything!- he signed with a little chirp of a bark that towhee most certainly didn't hear. he already knew the answer, truthfully, he just wanted to hear it from towhee herself, still grinning widely.

-Hm, I'll have to think about it and get back to you...- Towhee teased, smirking at her younger brother and then abruptly thrusting out a foreleg to punch him playfully in the shoulder. He was clearly tired of talking about such dry material, so it was time for something fun: a game! -Let's see if you're any good at racing! Last one to the badger den is a butt-sniffing,- she signed before abruptly switching to speaking aloud (seeing as she didn't have a sign for), "yamalam!"

Feel free to wrap! :) <3

she was taunting him!! he knew she called bs on his story a hot minute ago, but if towhee wanted to make a fool of herself yelling some nonsense name he made up... let her!! tegan, however, sniffed no butts! and would not be degraded to such. so he sped off after his sister/cousin/role-model, yipping as they went.